What?
My main thought when walking to my car today after a day of interacting with students, teachers, and finding my way around a brand new school was how great it felt to be back in the classroom. It’s been a long absence but being able to begin to put my skills and the critical new knowledge I have learned over the past month, into practice made for a wonderful day! There are many key events through this first day that stood out (meeting all the teachers, sitting in on one of the principal’s lessons, getting to know all the new students in my class), but a moment that stands out in my mind is when I go the opportunity to work with a struggling student one-on-one regarding his essay introduction. My SA asked me if I would mind giving this struggling student a little extra support on structuring his essay introduction. Even though he was given a model example outline in point form, he really was struggling to make the connect of what went where and coming up with his own transitions and connectors. I was able to sit down and scaffold for him individually where each piece went and worked. Additionally, it allowed me to show him example of how transitions work and different way he could introduce a topic while making it exciting. The student was able to finish the assignment as a result of scaffolding and with the framework in place, move on the the next stage of making it more complex.

So What?
This was my first connection with a student one-on-one for the year and even though I was able to help the student complete the assignment with a more personalized approach, the importance of the interaction was making this connection and getting to know that student better. As my SA has informed me, this particular student struggles with challenging himself and seeing the “bigger picture”, therefore this opportunity gave him the opportunity to bounce ideas off of me and have me help him in scaffolding the answer. The assignment aside, I do believe that this kind of early relationship building, with a student who will in the future require more of a personalized approach, allowed me to better understand his learning style. Furthermore, in a later lesson during the day, that student who was initially shy and reserved, was more outgoing and ready to engage in a discussion about what he was studying and whether he comprehended the material.

Now What?
Over the next few weeks, I have a plan to check in with this student everyday for two reasons: to follow-up on the assignment I helped scaffold for him, and to maintain this positive relationship I built on this first day. As a TC, in these first few weeks of observation, I am given a very unique opportunity to work with the students in this class in a more individualized manner and through this, get to understand their learning styles, background, and their strengths. This will be knowledge that will be immensely beneficial for when I am conducting the class on my own and to help tailor my lesson plan to fit the style and strengths of my future class.